As you may well know, here in Australia everything that crawls, flies, croaks, slithers or jumps is basically venomous.

I was just about to jump online to drummerworld when a tickle happened on my hand.

I looked down and there was a huge white tailed spider sitting comfortably on my fingers. These things have a very painful bite and inject a digestive enzyme which can eat away at flesh and leave bad ulcers.

That's gotta suck. At least your finger are OK. I heard that about Australia. That is one deadly continent. Around here I just leave spiders alone unless they get too close to my bed. They are just common garden spiders, quite a lot of daddy long-leg spiders and the occasional black widow, but you only find those in hidden places like the back of a storage unit or inside an old scooter frame that's been covered with weeds for the last 5 years. Once in a great while I'll see a giant wolf spider that is almost the size of my palm. Now that's a little freaky.

That's gotta suck. At least your finger are OK. I heard that about Australia. That is one deadly continent. Around here I just leave spiders alone unless they get too close to my bed. They are just common garden spiders, quite a lot of daddy long-leg spiders and the occasional black widow, but you only find those in hidden places like the back of a storage unit or inside an old scooter frame that's been covered with weeds for the last 5 years. Once in a great while I'll see a giant wolf spider that is almost the size of my palm. Now that's a little freaky.

One of those crawled into the cuff of my coveralls, while I was cleaning out my dads shed in Florida. They freak you out, just by the size. :(

It is just a part of life here. You become acustomed to these creatures. I was attacked by a king brown snake on my 13th birthday...I was wearing boots so it bit the crap out of them and not my toe.

I have also been kicked by a kangaroo, bitten by a dolphin (I know, I know...crazy huh), belted in the head by a sheep, stung by a red-back spider and kicked by a horse which left an imprint of my body on the side of the shed.

It is just a part of life here. You become acustomed to these creatures. I was attacked by a king brown snake on my 13th birthday...I was wearing boots so it bit the crap out of them and not my toe.

I have also been kicked by a kangaroo, bitten by a dolphin (I know, I know...crazy huh), belted in the head by a sheep, stung by a red-back spider and kicked by a horse which left an imprint of my body on the side of the shed.

It is just a part of life here. You become acustomed to these creatures. I was attacked by a king brown snake on my 13th birthday...I was wearing boots so it bit the crap out of them and not my toe.

I have also been kicked by a kangaroo, bitten by a dolphin (I know, I know...crazy huh), belted in the head by a sheep, stung by a red-back spider and kicked by a horse which left an imprint of my body on the side of the shed.

Hahahahahahahahaha. All that stuff must have hurt a lot.. but reading it is just hilarious, haha. :)

Man, if I were surfing off the Australian coast and got bit by something, I'd probably assume it was a white shark and I was a goner. Hell, dolphins usually scare me for a moment when I'm surfin here in CA! I try not to think of the things down there that could eat me.

It is just a part of life here. You become acustomed to these creatures. I was attacked by a king brown snake on my 13th birthday...I was wearing boots so it bit the crap out of them and not my toe.

I have also been kicked by a kangaroo, bitten by a dolphin (I know, I know...crazy huh), belted in the head by a sheep, stung by a red-back spider and kicked by a horse which left an imprint of my body on the side of the shed.

Yep, they're out and about mate. I'm putting it down to the drought breaking last year. I've seen an influx of just about everything. Insects and other "bitey's" that I haven't seen in many years, are in abundance.

Had "Boris the redback" by the back door only the other day. Had to bring my 4 year old out and show her what it looked like and give the old fashioned "veeeeery dangerous....never ever touch....come and get dad if you see another one" lecture.

I guess if you want hot or tropical weather all the time, you gotta pay a price of some kind. It's funny about climate and the inherent dangers where you live. We get brutal winters here in the midwest U.S., but there are almost no animals to fear nor natural disasters to reckon with. Outside of an occasional tornado, we don't have much else. No damaging earthquakes, no poisonous animals, no hurricanes. But it's 10 degrees fahrenheit right now :(

We have the brown recluse spider in Texas. It also eats away flesh. I friend of mine lost a middle finger on one hand from a bite. I know two other people that were bit on the leg.
I'm petrified of those things. Never reach into a dark corner and check your shoes before you put them on.

I have also been kicked by a kangaroo, bitten by a dolphin (I know, I know...crazy huh), belted in the head by a sheep, stung by a red-back spider and kicked by a horse which left an imprint of my body on the side of the shed.

We have the brown recluse spider in Texas. It also eats away flesh. I friend of mine lost a middle finger on one hand from a bite. I know two other people that were bit on the leg.
I'm petrified of those things. Never reach into a dark corner and check your shoes before you put them on.

Those are defiantly in Texas. I've seen all kinds of spiders, and despite my paranoia about them, I've never had problems, - I have more problems with scorpions personally. Spiders tend to stay in dark corners. Scorpions move around. Either way, take any injury seriously. It's not worth the risk of trying to tough it out, like I've seen so many do.

Maybe some of you guys will know about cougars or other animals of that kind? It is rumoured that we have at least one big cat prowling around on the moors here. There are many plantations of fir trees and large areas of deserted countryside and I think it is possible.

Local farmers have reported finding carcasses of ripped up sheep and although we do have foxes and other small carrion eaters we don't have anything that could actually tear a sheep apart. The point is, you wouldn't want to meet this baby out on the open moor on a dark night. It has been christened the Beast of Bodmin Moor but very few have seen it.

Also in the same area we have Britains only species of poisonous snake, the adder. They are pretty tame though compared with what you guys have.
The bite can be harmful but nobody has died for many years. The local hospital keeps snake venom antidote in stock because every now and again someone gets unlucky.

Maybe some of you guys will know about cougars or other animals of that kind? It is rumoured that we have at least one big cat prowling around on the moors here. There are many plantations of fir trees and large areas of deserted countryside and I think it is possible.

Local farmers have reported finding carcasses of ripped up sheep and although we do have foxes and other small carrion eaters we don't have anything that could actually tear a sheep apart. The point is, you wouldn't want to meet this baby out on the open moor on a dark night. It has been christened the Beast of Bodmin Moor but very few have seen it.

Also in the same area we have Britains only species of poisonous snake, the adder. They are pretty tame though compared with what you guys have.
The bite can be harmful but nobody has died for many years. The local hospital keeps snake venom antidote in stock because every now and again someone gets unlucky.

It is just a part of life here. You become acustomed to these creatures. I was attacked by a king brown snake on my 13th birthday...I was wearing boots so it bit the crap out of them and not my toe.

I have also been kicked by a kangaroo, bitten by a dolphin (I know, I know...crazy huh), belted in the head by a sheep, stung by a red-back spider and kicked by a horse which left an imprint of my body on the side of the shed.

Geez, you're not exactly Dr Dolittle, are you? :)

My animal problems:
Bitten on the bum by a garden spider hiding in my knickers
Bitten by a bull ant - about as painful as being ...
Stung by bees
Bitten by yappy terrier and scratched by a cat
Bullied at school by nasty animals
Bullied at work by nasty bosses

White tailed spiders are wicked things. Only rarely come across them (or funnel webs or red backs) a couple of them before. They're super fast because they hunt other spiders.